Silent Hill: Homecoming

Homecoming isn’t bad per se, it’s just that it isn’t frightening enough to be worthy of the Silent Hill-name. It might be a mildly enjoyable Action-game, but not much beyond that. [Issue#17]

Despite its flaws, we have to say we have a more than decent title here, heir to a legacy of classic survival horror elements and an example of what Silent Hill should be in this generation. Although the final result is not so awesome, this is a good opportunity to return to that silent village.

If you like games of the Silent Hill series, you will enjoy this game. If you are looking for a high grade horror-game, you should pick another product situated in the genre.

New installment to the popular horror series surprisingly discourages the gamers by an extremely slow opening. Those who get over the first few boring hours will be rewarded greatly — music, atmosphere, puzzles, boss fights are fantastic as usual. [Feb 2009]

The fifth episode of the series is shocking PC gamers - with long distances to cover and stupid riddles to solve. It still has some well done horror moments to offer, but it's not as creepy as the earlier episodes. A lot of effects were just copied over, so instead of being scary they cause the feeling of "been there, done that".

Homecoming adds a few small elements to the mix. [Jan 2009, p.100]

Fans will probably dig the game’s cool set pieces and the story, but the save points are placed too far apart, many puzzles require too much random experimentation, and the dialogue system seems like an afterthought. [Nov 2008, p.118]

This action game with horror influences made us scream at night. The music and spooky enemies has driven us to a point that we had to switch on all the lights. Once we weren’t scared anymore we saw some things that made are eyebrows go up. The protagonist, Alex, can fight and uses a gun. This takes away a lot of fun that we had during the last Silent Hill. So it is safe to say that it’s a good game, but doesn’t have the ‘wow’ factor.

Homecoming is too old-fashioned and lacks the originality and tension that made the previous games so enjoyable. [Mar 2009, p.70]

Right up to date - the date being 2002. [Jan 2009, p.77]

The game feels like a bit of a letdown. The gameplay has been reduced from a tense psychological experience fraught with spine tingling jumps and scares to a generic, predictable action title set in the location with good graphics and a great soundtrack.

Instead of breathing new life into the dying series, Double Helix created a piece of fan fiction. This Silent Hill is as authentic as chicory coffee or synthetic rubies.